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A First at Château Clerc Milon: TED, a Prototype Robot Designed for High Density Vineyards

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Pauillac, 28th November 2017: Château Clerc Milon is happy to report on the first trials in its Pauillac vineyard of TED, the first multi-purpose straddling electric robot specially designed for soil cultivation of high density vineyards.

The trials mark the culmination of an ambitious project that started with a desire to address a particular issue. Vineyard work involves a number of time-consuming and laborious tasks, such as mechanical weeding beneath the rows. Baron Philippe de Rothschild therefore decided to take part in the development of a specific solution, in keeping with its long-standing policy of taking a responsible approach to the protection of its vines and terroir through measures such as banning chemical weedkillers from all its vineyards.

In June, Baron Philippe de Rothschild concluded a partnership with Naïo Techologies in order to combine the start-up’s technological expertise with the skills of its own technical staff. “We see robotics as an effective solution for the future. As well as helping to make our vineyard workless arduous and respecting the soil, it will reduce our dependency on fossil energies and the harm caused by traditional agricultural machinery”, says Philippe Dhalluin, Managing Director of Baron Philippe de Rothschild. “It was Naïo’s development of a robot designed for vegetable farming that first caught our eye in 2015. We suggested working together on a project for a vineyard robot suited to the particular problems we face in the vines at Château Clerc Milon.”

This innovative vine-tending initiative is just one aspect of Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s broader environmental policy. The company draws on current best practice to limit the use of plant protection products at all its estates and is firmly committed to further progress. In pursuit of that goal, the technical staff uses sustainable, organic and biodynamic techniques with a strong emphasis on biocontrol solutions. As a result of this policy, the frequency of treatments on the estate has been reduced by over 30% since 2008.

About Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA

Chaired by Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Baron Philippe de Rothschild is a French joint-stock company with a Supervisory Board and an Executive Committee. It has two distinct lines of business, the Estates and Branded wines, united under a single management in the same pursuit of excellence. The company manages three classified growths in the Pauillac appellation, including the illustrious Château Mouton Rothschild. It also produces and sells a range of high-quality branded wines which it sources from its many partner growers then blends, matures and bottles itself, foremost among them the famous Mouton Cadet.

For more information: www.bpdr.com/.

About Naïo Technologies

Naïo Technologies was created in 2011 by Gaëtan Séverac, a robotics engineer with a doctorate in embedded systems, and Aymeric Barthes, a robotics engineer with a farming background, with the aim of helping farmers to solve some of their many problems. Committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR), they have a team of 25 employees and shareholders who share their convictions and understand the challenges facing a start-up. 100 Naïo Technologies robots are already in use and the company expects sales of €1.2 million in 2017, twice as much as in2016.

For more information: www.naio-technologies.com/ 

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